John Martyn

British singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Martyn was as musically adventurous as he was innovative. Over the course of his career he worked in a multitude of styles and cut paths many others would follow. Born Iain David McGeachy in the London suburb of New Maiden on September 11, 1948 to a pair of opera singers, he grew up in both England and Scotland, he began pursuing a career as a singer/songwriter while still in his teens, becoming a part of the fertile folk scene at legendary clubs like Les Cousins, alongside the likes of Roy Harper, Bert Jansch, and Jackson C. Frank. He was 19 when he released his first album, 1967's London Conversation, his folkiest recording. He began broadening his sound on 1968's The Tumbler. In 1969 he met singer Beverley Kutner, and by 1970, they were partnered both matrimonially and musically. John and Beverley Martyn's 1970 LP, Stormbringer, was a fully realized folk-rock record that turned heads in England. They followed with Road to Ruin later the same year, but then Island Records pushed John to become a solo artist again. His next three records-1971's Bless the Weather and 1973's Solid Air and Inside Out-were his high water marks, brilliant collisions of jazz, folk, blues, and rock emphasizing his fluid style and aided by his pioneering use of effects boxes on his acoustic guitar. They made him a star of the U.K. folk scene and would be hailed as classics forever after. His next record, 1977's One World, incorporated R&B, reggae, and pop influences and began his pursuit of an increasingly slick production aesthetic that would continue into the '90s. Towards the end of the '70s, Martyn's worsening substance abuse problems contributed to the breakup of his marriage amidst allegations of physical and mental abuse. With 1998's The Church With One Bell, he got back to the grittier sound he was known for, successfully adding some trip-hop elements as well. He experienced an artistic renaissance with his last few albums, but on January 29, 2009, his years of drinking and drugging caught up with him and he died in Kilkenny, Ireland at the age of 60.